Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to resume River Tour, 35 years later

Bruce Springsteen, shown on the first River Tour, 35 years ago, will hit the road again with his E Street Band on Jan. 16.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are picking up where they left off, 35 years ago, with their second River Tour.

Springsteen, who is releasing a new boxed set, The Ties That Bind: The River Collection, today, has announced nine weeks of shows, including stops at Madison Square Garden in New York Jan. 24 and 27, and the Prudential Center in Newark, Jan. 31. The River tour kicks off Jan. 16 in Pittsburgh, meaning Springsteen will not be appearing at the main Light of Day concert in Asbury Park on that day.

Tickets for the 24 concerts go on sale on Dec. 11. Since there are days off before and after the New Jersey show and both New York shows, it seems like a good possibility that some shows will be added.

According to a press release, recordings of each show will be released as a download on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net “within days of each performance.”

The original River Tour took place in 1980 and 1981 and is widely considered one of Springsteen’s best.

With an emphasis on material from The River — and, probably, some of the outtakes that appeared on the new boxed set — the E Street Band has been stripped down for this tour, and will include only Roy Bittan, Nils Lofgren, Patti Scialfa, Garry Tallent, Steven Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Soozie Tyrell, Jake Clemons and Charlie Giordano.

Here is the official press release:

New York, NY: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band launch The River Tour, a nine-week U.S. trek, on Jan. 16 in Pittsburgh. The announcement of the tour coincides with today’s release of ‘The Ties That Bind: The River Collection’, a comprehensive look at the era of the 1980 ‘The River’ album that Rolling Stone calls “Springsteen’s best archival release yet.”

Springsteen precedes the tour with a Dec. 19 performance on Saturday Night Live, his third appearance on the NBC show.

The River Tour (#TheRiverTour) is the first for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band since the 2014 High Hopes Tour.

Each night of the tour will be mixed for release on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net as high-quality downloads and CDs. Recordings will be available within days of each performance.

The original The River Tour began Oct. 3, 1980, two weeks before the release of Springsteen’s fifth album, and continued through Sept. 4, 1981. With sets that regularly approached the four-hour range, the 140-date international tour firmly established a reputation for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as marathon performers.

‘The Ties That Bind: The River Collection’ includes 52 tracks on four CDs with a wealth of unreleased material and four hours of never-before-seen video on three DVDs. It contains the original ‘The River’ double album; the first official release of ‘The River: Single Album’; a CD of 1979/80 studio outtakes; a brand-new documentary about ‘The River’; and a coffee-table book of 200 rare or previously unseen photos and memorabilia, with a new essay by Mikal Gilmore. The set also includes a two-DVD film of never-released, newly edited multi-camera footage from a Nov. 1980 show in Tempe, AZ, described by NPR as a “holy grail.”

‘The Ties That Bind: The River Collection’ is available at Amazon (4CD/3DVD or 4CD/2Blu-ray) and iTunes.

The E Street Band’s members are: Roy Bittan – piano, synthesizer; Nils Lofgren – guitar, vocals; Patti Scialfa – guitar, vocals; Garry Tallent – bass guitar; Stevie Van Zandt – guitar, vocals; and Max Weinberg – drums; with Soozie Tyrell – violin, guitar, vocals; Jake Clemons – saxophone; and Charlie Giordano – keyboards.

Tickets to The River Tour go on sale Dec. 11.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 2016 U.S. Tour Dates:

January 16 — Pittsburgh, PA — Consol Energy Center
January 19 — Chicago, IL — United Center
January 24 & 27 — New York, NY — Madison Square Garden
January 29 — Washington, DC — Verizon Center
January 31 — Newark, NJ — Prudential Center
February 2 — Toronto, ON — Air Canada Centre
February 4 — Boston, MA — TD Garden
February 8 — Albany, NY — Times Union Center
February 10 — Hartford, CT — XL Center
February 12 — Philadelphia, PA — Wells Fargo Center
February 16 — Sunrise, FL — BB&T Center
February 18 — Atlanta, GA — Philips Arena
February 21 — Louisville, KY — KFC Yum! Center
February 23 — Cleveland, OH — Quicken Loans Arena
February 25 — Buffalo, NY — First Niagara Center
February 27 — Rochester, NY — Blue Cross Arena
February 29 — St Paul, MN — Xcel Energy Center
March 3 — Milwaukee, WI — BMO Harris Bradley Center
March 6 — St Louis, MO — Chaifetz Arena
March 10 — Phoenix, AZ — Talking Stick Resort Arena
March 13 — Oakland, CA — Oracle Arena
March 15 & 17 — Los Angeles, CA — Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena